The G8 is a grouping of the world's leading industrialised democracies. Its origins lie in the oil crisis of the 1970s when US, European and Japanese finance officials met for fireside chats to discuss the economic problems they faced, but it has since grown into an annual meeting of rich world nations with considerable political and economic clout.

What does it do?

It discusses matters of interest to G8 members and the wider world under a summit agenda set by the holder of its rotating presidency. For the 2005 meeting, the current president, Tony Blair of Britain, has decided the G8 will attempt to find ways to help poor countries in Africa and deal with the threat of climate change.

Who is a member?

The US, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia. For more than 20 years membership was limited to the first seven but Russia, who met with the then G7 from 1991, was given a place at the top table in 1998. The G8 also meets with finance ministers from South Africa, India, China and Brazil, and invites representatives from the European Union to its annual summit.

What is the British agenda?

Mr Blair wants the G8 to agree action on implementing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals on reducing global poverty, providing primary education for all and combating Aids. Britain is aiming for commitments from G8 nations to raise development aid to 0.7% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2015 and the 100% cancellation of debt owed by 62 developing countries to international institutions such as the World Bank. Mr Blair and his chancellor, Gordon Brown, are also pressing for changes to world trade rules they claim would make it easier for African economies to grow. The programme is sometimes called the Marshall plan for Africa after the US aid package to postwar Europe.

On climate change, Britain hopes to use the fact that the G8 countries account for 65% of global GDP and 47% of all carbon dioxide emissions to make national leaders, both inside and outside the grouping, acknowledge the need for further action to control emissions. A problem here is the refusal of the US to sign the Kyoto protocol on global warming, so Mr Blair is stressing the Bush administration's favoured line on climate change - that industrial countries should look for technical solutions - and asking the G8 to work in partnership on the issue with major emerging economies such as India and China.

How is it progressing?

Ahead of the July 6-8 Gleneagles summit in Scotland, Mr Blair and Mr Brown have been meeting their G8 counterparts to smooth out difficulties and deal with problems early on.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has broadly backed Mr Blair's agenda, but his US counterpart has been cooler over climate change and refused to participate in a scheme drawn up by Mr Brown to raise aid money on the international financial markets. The US president, George Bush, also refuses to increase aid to 0.7% of GDP and, of the other nations, Germany and Japan are thought to be of the mind that increased aid should be tied into political reforms in the recipient countries.

Mr Blair says he expects "hard negotiations" at Gleneagles but claims to be optimistic over his chances of success.

What has been agreed so far?

The best "omen" - in Mr Blair's words - was an agreement by G7 finance ministers (Russia is still excluded from some economic meetings) to write off the debts of 18, mostly African, countries to international institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund in a deal worth £22bn. The countries are those among 38 named in the Highly Indebted Poor Countries initiative which have maintained economic stability and produced a strategy for reducing poverty. A further nine could benefit from the write-off within 18 months.